"That's true..." Asuna Yuuki said and seemed a bit hesitant, then decided to ask for Asagiri Utsunomiya's opinion. "Captain, what do you think?"
"Let's do as Phantom says." Asagiri Utsunomiya nodded and said casually. Then he added, "Don't worry, if anything unexpected happens when the door opens, I will immediately use Castling."
Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly and said, "Castling? That will indeed ensure Phantom's safety, but after swapping positions, won't you have to face the Special Infected's attack?"
"Wrong, completely wrong." Asagiri Utsunomiya waved his hand and corrected her seriously. "It's that Special Infected who will face my attack."
"Where exactly did you get..." Asuna Yuuki's words stopped halfway, but she recalled Asagiri Utsunomiya's performance in the Shuchi'in Academy gym.
It seems... there's nothing wrong with that statement.
Asagiri Utsunomiya's physical ability was originally at a professional athlete's level, and when equipped with Hitoshura, he would also gain a passive effect that enhances his physical abilities, making him practically a human-shaped monster.
If he were to engage in close combat with a Special Infected... the advantage would indeed be on his side.
"Then let's do it this way." Asuna Yuuki said this first, then looked at Kotoko Iwanaga and added, emphasizing with a serious expression, "If something unexpected really happens later, you must..."
"No need to remind me specifically." Kotoko Iwanaga interrupted with a determined expression. Afterwards, she added, "Even at the risk of my prosthetic limbs exploding, I absolutely won't let him get hurt!"
Asuna Yuuki sighed and said helplessly, "I was just telling you to remember to use your skill in time. It consumes mental energy. What does that have to do with prosthetic limbs? How deep is your obsession with your prosthetic limbs having been broken..."
Hearing the three of them joking around, Megumi Kato, who was originally very nervous and had only forced herself to be brave, couldn't help but relax a little in this lighthearted and cheerful atmosphere, showing a gentle smile.
"Then I'll go open the door."
Having said that, Megumi Kato activated her Talent and walked step by step towards the tightly closed fire door.
The woman's crying outside the door continued, emanating an inexplicable eerie gloom.
Megumi Kato walked to the door, took a deep breath, slowly placed her hand on the handle of the fire door, and then carefully turned it.
*Click!*
Accompanied by a faint sound, Megumi Kato slowly pulled open the fire door. Even though she was mentally prepared, the sight that appeared before her eyes still startled her, and her breathing stopped for a moment.
A woman, dressed only in underwear, stained with blood, so thin that her ribs were clearly visible, as if malnourished, with long hair covering her face, was kneeling on the dim ground outside, covering her face with her hands and sobbing incessantly.
And the party's hands... had sharp, blade-like nails, nearly ten centimeters long, which had turned blackish-red from being stained with blood.
Megumi Kato held her breath, not daring to make any sound, just waiting silently, while the three people not far away also remained quiet.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Until nearly ten seconds passed, Megumi Kato finally carefully and completely opened the fire door. During this process, the crying woman did not lift her head or show any reaction, just continued to kneel there, emitting strange crying sounds.
"Get ready..."
Asuna Yuuki said with a low voice, just about to tell Kotoko Iwanaga to prepare to attack, when suddenly, a sizzling electrical sound rang out in the corridor of Floor B1.
In the next second, the originally dim corridor suddenly flickered with a few flashes of light.
The moment the light flashed, the woman who had been kneeling on the ground suddenly lifted her head as if she had been stimulated by something. It was then that everyone realized that what she was shedding were not tears at all, but two streams of dark red blood.
The moment she lifted her head, her gaze locked onto Megumi Kato, and she let out a sharp howl that was almost like madness.
"Castling!"
Asagiri Utsunomiya didn't hesitate at all and immediately activated his skill. After instantly swapping positions with Megumi Kato, he didn't pause for a second and directly delivered a simple yet effective kick to the shriveled chest of the Special Infected.
With his enhanced physical condition, and using such a highly lethal move, the Special Infected who had just let out a sharp howl and was still in the warming-up phase of its attack, was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, hitting the wall of the Floor B1 corridor with a dull *thud!*
Almost at the same time the Special Infected was kicked away, Asagiri Utsunomiya took out his equipment, the Vampiric Chain Dagger. The metal chain wrapped around his forearm rubbed, making a faint *clink!* sound.
Soon after, with skilled movements, he directly threw the dagger in his hand, piercing directly through the Special Infected's forehead. The force was so terrifying that more than half of the sharp dagger was embedded in the Special Infected's head.
"It's solved." It wasn't until Asagiri Utsunomiya said this that Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato finally reacted and hurried over to the other side, only to see the slender, disheveled Special Infected with terrifying claws lying on the ground, completely unmoving.
Asuna Yuuki and the others were somewhat dumbfounded.
Was that all?
There was no need for Kotoko Iwanaga to use her skills for support, nor for Asuna Yuuki to coordinate from the side. In less than two seconds, Asagiri Utsunomiya alone killed this Special Infected… No, was it an instant kill?
Asagiri Utsunomiya looked at the corpse of the Special Infected and slowly spoke with a serious and solemn expression.
"What a formidable opponent. Perhaps I will never forget you in my entire life… Exhibitionist Zombie."
Asuna Yuuki complained suddenly, "…I say, can you stop giving weird nicknames to every enemy you kill with such a serious expression? Are you making some strange illustration book collection?"
"Illustration book collection?" Asagiri Utsunomiya seemed to have a switch flipped. He carefully looked at Megumi Kato, Asuna Yuuki, and Kotoko Iwanaga, then smiled and said. "If that's the case, then you are my Starter Pokémon!"
After saying that, Asagiri Utsunomiya pulled the metal chain with one hand, dragging the corpse of the Special Infected in front of him. Then he squatted down, pulled out the dagger inserted into the corpse's forehead, and then put away his smile and spoke in a flat tone.
"Besides the sharp claws on its hands, the bones in this guy's skull seem to have been specially strengthened. I originally thought that with my strength and a purple rare-quality weapon, I should be able to directly penetrate its entire head. Alas, my strength is still not enough."
Listening to Asagiri Utsunomiya's lament, Asuna Yuuki didn't know how to respond. After all, although she was the one with the melee combat job Swordsman, it was clear from her exclusive Talent and Skill that she was the type who excelled in speed and agility.
In her opinion, the strength of Asagiri Utsunomiya, who could throw a dagger with one hand from several meters away and directly shatter the reinforced skull of a Special Infected, was terrifying and not like a human at all.
"Based on the average strength of Players at this stage, it is almost impossible to get past this Special Infected and enter Floor B1 of this building. Unless you take a different route, climbing down from the elevator shaft, it might be possible to avoid it."
Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's words, Megumi Kato spoke thoughtfully.
"You mean… because the difficulty of entering Floor B1 is too high, so high that it's almost impossible for ordinary Players to accomplish, according to the rules of this Game, the storage location of the antibody reagent is unlikely to be here?"
"Yes, the dungeons in this Game will not set up difficult challenges that are impossible for Players at this stage to complete. But if you think about it from another perspective…"
Kotoko Iwanaga observed both sides of the corridor, seemingly sensing the presence of spirits. Then she adjusted her beret and spoke with a smile.
"In addition to the simple clear conditions, in the dungeons of this Game, there will also be hidden stages, which may offer special rewards, set up specifically for Players like us who are far stronger than ordinary Players and can easily complete the mission objectives. Floor B1 of the building where this morgue is located looks very much like a hidden stage."
Upon hearing that, Asagiri Utsunomiya immediately became eager to try.
"Hidden stage? Then I have to go for it now."
Asuna Yuuki heard that and reminded him very seriously, "Are you really just here to play the game? Since it's a hidden stage that might offer special rewards that are very valuable to us, there will also be dangers that don't match the dungeon difficulty. Although we definitely need to explore, let's stay vigilant and act cautiously."
◆◇◈◇◆
Five minutes later, the four of them arrived in a dim morgue filled with an eerie, cold atmosphere that made people feel a little uneasy.
Asuna Yuuki stood at the door, looking at the huge metal storage cabinets on both sides of the room, her voice trembling slightly as she forced herself to say.
"W-what, you guys search… I'll be on guard at the door…"
"So timid, how cute~"
Kotoko Iwanaga covered her lips and chuckled, then walked bravely to the metal cabinets. She didn't open them immediately, but observed them while softly calling out.
"Captain, come look at this."
Asagiri Utsunomiya walked over and saw that most of the morgue cabinets had something like sticky notes attached to the outside.
[Code: Witch
[Characteristics: Mostly women kneeling in place and crying non-stop, a small number of special types will wander in a certain area, extremely sensitive to light and sound, once provoked will fall into a state of madness, indiscriminately attacking all moving creatures in the surroundings.
[Strengths: Higher defense than ordinary infected, extremely high defense in mutated hands, even bullets cannot penetrate, once a target is locked on, it will pursue relentlessly.
[Weaknesses: Low strength and speed, and unlike other Special Infected, completely lacks any ability to think.]